Air-purifying bicycle concept eats pollution, generates oxygen

Bicycles are currently a big part of the clean transportation revolution, and the interest in biking, whether for transportation or health or just for fun, is growing every day (well, maybe less in the winter...).

So we already know they're awesome just as they are, from the old-school to the e-bike, but a new bike concept takes that awesomeness one big step further, by turning a two-wheeler into an air purifier.

The pollution-eating bike, from Bangkok's Lightfog creative studio, is an electric bicycle concept that is said to include not only a handlebar-mounted air filter, but also a "photosynthesis system” that can generate oxygen from a reaction with water and electricity from the lithium-ion battery that powers the bike.

From the mockup, it appears that the air filter is rather small in size, so it's unclear what volume of air could be processed during a single ride, and it's equally unclear just how much oxygen could be produced by one of these bikes. But who knows, perhaps the overall impact of lots of people leaving their cars at home and riding air-purifying bikes could be significant, assuming there were fleets of these bicycles on the streets.

Before you go and rip this bike up in the comments, remember that this is a design concept (though a prototype is said to be in the works), not a sales pitch or endorsement. However, also remember that occasionally it's off-the-wall ideas like this that can end up making an impact in surprising or unexpected ways, sometime down the road.